Dragon Highlord Verminaard
Verminaard was a champion of Takhisis and was one of the first clerics to show signs of the return of the true gods during the age of despair. He was the leader of the Red Dragon Army and governed the mines of Pax Tharkas. Verminaard would fight with a mace called Nightbringer. The party first encountered him when he attacked them with Ember, his dragon. Generally, he kept a distance from the party and would occasionally swoop in to monologue then fly away.
They would eventually reach Pax Tharkas where they would free the prisoners from the dragon Flamestrike and infurate Verminaard. He would go on to attack the prisoners, some of which were children that Flamestrike had grown fond of. She attacked him, blasting him and grabbing Ember. The two dragons would lock into combat whilst the party fled. The prisoners, now refugees, would be escorted across the Abanasinia Wilderness by the party with Verminaard and Ember in close pursuit. They would eventually find safety in a vale, away from the highlord.
Eventually, Verminaard catches up the party where he monologues their nightmares they had the night before. Alphy, the last remaining member who suffered one of these nightmares, dreamed that he was fighting in battle and failing miserably, eventually being stabbed through the chest from behind and dying. The party did not let Verminaard's attempts to scare them upset them however, instead heckling the Highlord. He flew off with Ember, who was horribly scarred from the battle with Flamestrike.
The party would eventually face him again after they found the Hammer of Kharas in Derkin's Tomb, where Verminaard would be waiting for them in the Temple of Stars with an army of 200 Daergar and 6 scarier looking commanders. He was enraged when he discovered that Ember was dead and demanded the Hammer. He would reveal that one of the members of the party, Eben Shatterstone, was a traitor, who would attempt to give the hammer to him. Riverwind would intercept, grabbing it before Verminaard could get it. This would stop the Daergar from attacking, and the party would throw themselves into the fight. Diesa, the druid, would shapeshift into a bird and attempt to attack Verminaard, and he and his commanders would savage her. Alphy, seeing this, grabbed Riverwind and the two tag teamed Verminaard to save Diesa. However, Alphy would get a little too feral and go against him and Riverwind's plan (Alphy would distract Verminaard and Riverwind would attack him from the back), slicing Verminaard's head off and killing him instantly within 30 seconds of entering the battle. All the remaining commander's surrended at this feat, and the battle was won.
Alphy would take Nightbringer and the Highlord's head in its helmet to Thorbardin, where he would toss Verminaard's head into the waters as a sacrifice to the goddess Zeboim. He would keep the helmet and Nightbringer as a token. Eventually, sometime later, Alphy would use the mace to torment Kai, a fellow party member, causing Cinder to take it from Alphy as he was being irresponsible.
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